In the midst of Victoria’s second lockdown, two passionate Melburnians have created a program to promote random acts of kindness to the retail and hospitality industry. ‘Pay It Forward In Retail’ is a movement created by hospitality veteran George Sykiotis (Lucy Liu and Lupino Wine Bar) and CBRE’s Head of Retail Leasing, Zelman Ainsworth.
The program calls upon major retailers across Australia to donate ‘care packages’ to the employees of another business and in turn, the recipient will continue to do the same for another retailer and pay it forward.
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- Australian Venue Co with ‘care package’ from The Leaf Store
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- The Leaf Store’s care packages
“We wanted to show kindness to the retailers during this tough time,” Ainsworth said, “What is more important is to see Melbourne based businesses coming together and supporting each other?”
The aim is to support retailers and their staff during these uncertain times as the restrictions in Victoria are extended with a conditional staged re-opening.
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- The Leaf Store
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- Scicluna real food merchants
Retailers who are have participated in the program include Zagames Motors, Fun Lab, Mecca, Loreal, Adidas, Australian Venue Co, The Leaf Store and The Big Group, Lamanas, Scicluna, LUCAS Group, St Ali to name a few.
The retail industry has no doubt been affected the most but this initiative exists to make a difference by creating huge ripples of kindness across the industry.
Follow the #Payitforwardinretail hashtag on social media to see more.
